1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light source color information recording apparatus which is capable of recording information related to the color of the light source that illuminates the photographic subject (hereafter referred to as light source color) on, for example, film.
2. Description of the Related Art
The illuminating light which illuminates a photographic subject to be photographed with a camera varies, depending upon the time and place of photographing, among, for example, sunlight, fluorescent light and light from an incandescent lamp. The light source color also varies depending upon the type of illuminating light, and the color of the photographic subject when printed changes depending upon the light source color. In the prior art, a camera which records the information related to the light source color of the light source for lighting a photographic subject (hereafter referred to as light source color information) on film is known. This camera is provided with a light source color detection device, such as a colorimetric device, which detects the light source color prior to photographing, and a recording device, such as a magnetic head, that records the light source color information based upon the detected light source color in an information recording area in each photographic frame of the film. The recorded light source color information is read by the printing device at the print service facility and, based upon this information, color correction is performed at the time of printing. With this, prints with accurate color are achieved regardless of the type of light source being used to light the photographic subject.
Also known in the prior art is a camera that records flash photographing information on the film when flash photographing is performed using an electronic flash device.
When performing flash photographing, since the illuminating light from the electronic flash device on the photographic subject is dominant, the light source color information detected prior to photographing is not significant. However, because this point is not considered with the light source color information recording apparatus in the prior art, light source color information that is meaningless for the photographic frames on which flash photographing has been performed will, nevertheless, be recorded. In such a case, color correction performed at the time of printing is likely to be erroneous and this will result in photos with undesirable color. In particular, when a light source color recording function is added to a camera that is capable of recording the flash photographing information described above, there arises a problem of determining which information should be recorded in flash photographing.